Research interests
The vast world below ground has been referred to as the poor man’s tropical rain forest. Ben studies community ecology of soil microorganisms. Research in the lab explores this diversity and interactions among species there as well as how soil microbial ecology cascades up to aboveground communities and ecosystem processes. He focuses mainly on fungi (and some bacteria) that live in soils, and is interested in understanding the dynamics of microbe-plant symbioses, the role of soil microorganisms in community assembly (above and below ground) and the potential to leverage soil microbes in restoration. The lab uses a combination of study methods in the field, greenhouse and in controlled lab conditions, commonly employing a variety of tools including fungal culturing, next generation DNA sequencing and modeling.

Current projects
Ben's lab was just established at the University of Kansas in late August 2013, so new projects will develop over time. Past and ongoing projects include the role of mycorrhizal fungi in plant succession, pathogen accumulation in non-native plants over time, benefits of fungal additions on ecosystem restoration, and interactive assembly of plant and root endophyte communities. New projects under way:

drivers of root endophytes in wetland plants as analogs to early land plants;

feedbacks among fire, fungi and plants in determining fire regime.

Past undergraduate projects have explored competition among fungi from different land use types (natural, disturbed, converted to agriculture), the ability of fungi from different land uses to decompose above- and below-ground plant material, and the synergistic benefit to plants from functionally different fungi.